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mtaylor

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Everything posted by mtaylor

  1. mtaylor
    The rigging is going to give me headaches and probably induce me to partake of adult beverages. As a side project I'm seeing how small I can make feedthroughs with sheaves (real or dummy) for the lines that go through the hull and belay to a cleat. Worst case... I'll just drill a hole The plan may not be viable, but i don't see any other choice except to install the main mast and associated yards and then rig it before I add the quarterdeck. That just doesn't seem prudent. To facilitate this, I'll have to cut her free from the build board once the gundeck is planked and ceiled. That will give me about 2 inches less of framing in the way.
  2. mtaylor
    Dave, I have no idea what it's called either but the Wasa had it also. Seemed to be common for the era.. so there must be a name for it besides "headache" or "reason to consume large quantities of alcohol". Edit: I checked Mondfeld... They're simply called "stays". Later those blocks and lines were not used.
  3. mtaylor
    Sam, On the 8-pdr French frigates, the quarterdeck stops before the main mast. On the 12-pdr and 18-pdrs, it extends past the main mast. Some of the main mast rigging actually is belayed on the gundeck. Lest I forget, there's also a longboat/barge sitting there in front of the main mast also. Rigging will get interesting. I'm thinking ahead and may have to belay the lines, annotate them and then pull them up when the main mast gets installed. Kind of backwards rigging method, methinks. Just won't be room for these meatballs I call fingers and all the stuff in the way.
  4. mtaylor
    Denis, I don't know if it would make your life easier, but definitely more "interesting" as in "may you live in interesting times". The downside is doing the drawings. But there is a flow that one gets into and for me it seems to work.
  5. mtaylor
    Another minor update... The aft midsection has received it's thick stuff. There's one plank I need to rip out and replace but that's a job for tomorrow. I've installed the bitt that sits behind the mainmast. It needed to be installed now as it's morticed into the deck beam and the thick stuff will also help hold it in place. The area around the main mast is a pretty busy place. There's the bitt aft, a pinrail forward, the two crew ladders to the lower deck, four elmtree type pumps, and numerous eyebolts with blocks. But.. most of those things can come after the deck is completely planked and the ceiling installed.
  6. mtaylor
    Very impressive ship, Dave. I'm feasting on the details.
  7. mtaylor
    I'm with the others... not a "fun" injury due to location and nerve endings (not that injuries are fun but this has to be the most painful and the hardest to heal in my experience). Follow the doc's advice to the letter please.
  8. mtaylor
    No rush, no pressure, Denis. I think we all understand the "chain reaction syndrome"...
  9. mtaylor
    Congratulations, Jerry. She appears to be a fine sailor and very majestic. You ought to be popping buttons off your shirt with pride.
  10. mtaylor
    Gaetan, Are you using direct light, diffused, or reflected light for the lighting the ship itself? From my 35mm photography days, reflected light off a white board minimized reflections. Diffused can also do it depending...
  11. mtaylor
  12. mtaylor
    Unbelievable, Igor. Your work is amazing.
  13. mtaylor
    Beautiful finish with the glass work, Grant. And you're planning on varnishing after the glass work? Side note, I've used plastic trash bags like the peel and ply but only for the final coat unless it's multilayer glass or carbon fiber. But I was also vacuum bagging as Sam mentioned. It gives a smooth, shiny surface unless you get a wrinkle in the bag. And no... I wouldn't think of vacuum bagging a wooden ship.
  14. mtaylor
    Sam, I'm running at what I consider a medium low speed of 10mm/sec and power is at 9 mA which is about medium. Max speed is around 300mm for engraving so there's speed available, but the vibration at anything over 20mm/sec isn't worth the hassle as it introduces distortion on the corners and curves. For the power, the tube (45W) is rated at 23 mA but I limit that to 80% of that (18 mA) to improve tube life. Things go differently for different thicknesses of wood and also type of wood. The other thing is to watch the temperature of the cooling water... the colder it is (to a max low of 65 degrees F) the more efficient the tube is and thus needs less power. I'm not watching that close right now as these are short cuts (in time) and so my max temp is just above ambient in the house. You certainly don't want to run these things if the cooling water gets above 80 degrees F as that will burn out the tube. Probably more info than anyone wants to know....
  15. mtaylor
    Very well done, my friend. I'm glad it worked for you.
  16. mtaylor
    It's great to hear from you. What tech school are you in and what specialty are getting trained in?
  17. mtaylor
    Impressive work, Mike. Looking from here, if you hadn't said anything, we would know it broke.
  18. mtaylor
    I don't like that your back went out, Alan. I like that you have healed enough to respond. I'm just watching quietly and enjoying your build.
  19. mtaylor
    Sheer genius on the pin and the mill. This is going into my bag of tricks.
  20. mtaylor
    This is beyond amazing, Igor. So much detail on such a tiny ship. Marvelous.
  21. mtaylor
    You have been busy. She looks good, Tom.
  22. mtaylor
    Today's progress and the adventure continues..... much head scratching, much smoke blowing out the window... fed the scrapbox as I sorted out my approach but success I do believe. Rather than trying to attack the whole deck (center area) at once, I decided to break it into logical sections. So.. aft section first as that's my anchor point for measurements. I spent the better part of last couple of days setting up the drawings for this with the deck plan as a basis and adding reference points and checking and re-checking measurements. I finally produced a drawing showing what I thought I needed, printed it out, cut out the section and.. rats... off... Recheck measurements, reworked the drawing and repeated the test. Got it. Or so I thought. I cut a piece of thin basswood and the fit was pretty good. I then cut a piece of pear with etched in planking lines thinking... "one piece.. it should look good.". It does look good (first picture). However, not quite as good a fit as I'd like. I mis-calculated the kerf of the Deathstar. Different woods and different thicknesses affect the kerf. It's not a constant but a variable as thicker wood needs more power which gives a bit of a wider kerf... a "Doh!" moment. Back to the drawing board. I ran some cutting tests (3 altogether for consistancy) using pear of the appropriate thickness to check the kerf and then ran those numbers into the calculator WITHOUT rounding them and got the correct kerf. While I had the drawing in the rework process, I decided instead of one piece and trying to get it to conform to the curve of the deck beams, I choose to cut individual planks. Re-checked 3 or 4 times my calculations and it worked... (See pic 2). A light sanding to remove the ash but leave some of the char gives a nice fine line for the caulking. It's been glued down into position and still needs some more light sanding to remove a bit of smoke stain and also to smooth out decking's surface. Hopefully, tomorrow's efforts on the aft midsection (the next section forward) will yield good results. I think it'll go a bit faster once I get into the rhythm of things. It may seem like more trouble, but with the tapered planks on the deck I think this can produce a more uniform planking than trying to mark up the beams with the tapered widths and match them.
  23. mtaylor
    Good grief that beast is huge... If you'd made it from metal it probably could haul cargo overseas. Or maybe use it as a rowboat? Seriously nice and complex work, Kevin.
  24. mtaylor
    I have different heights depending the work station.. My main build table though means I have to stand as top of the build board is approximately 1 foot above the work surface yet it matches the other work areas. Top surfaces of all the work areas (including my build board) are 36". I do have a wooden "bar" stool that allows me to sit if I don't feel like standing.
  25. mtaylor
    Lately it doesn't seem to work no matter how many times I measure and cut. The part is still too short.

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